The ongoing saga of being a ongoing father of two - one with autism and one who died for 20 minutes.
From pre-birth, birth and through those difficult toddler years.
It's definitely a life changing event going from singleton to parent.

Saturday, 28 May 2011

In that time, nothing of any REAL note has happened regarding Emily. She hasn't written a thesis or magically started talking on complete sentences, etc.

However, there have been marginal gains in her language and development issues. We've always recited books and sung songs with her leaving out the odd word for her to fill in. Recently we've been leaving more and more words out, to the point where some songs like "Baa Baa Black Sheep" she can sing all by herself.

This is probably an important milestone in her development, but she still blanks pretty much everyone around her - never saying hello, even when Sue comes home. It can be quite heartbreaking being COMPLETELY ignored by your own child... well, until she becomes a teenager.

We're currently in a holding pattern. 8 June we find out if Emily gets into Dragonflies, the specialist pre-school for children with "issues". If not, we fall back to plan B - the local montessori school, with minimal provision for helping the lessor developed.

I've also started a new job in the last two weeks, and the odd day calls for me to be in the office in Windsor. This has meant a bit of a role reversal for Sue and I - as I am now leaving early and arriving home late. Some nights I've not even seen Emily, she's already asleep. I really understand how Sue has felt the times she's come home and Em's been asleep. Sometimes going a couple of days without seeing her - if it's early mornings as well.

Tomorrow we're off to Legoland, so it will be interesting to see how Emily interacts with her surroundings. I assume she's find a bookstore and hole up in there until it's time to go.